


We Will Never Be Afraid Again

by florencedrunk



Series: The March 2017 Stucky Challenge [21]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bucky doesn't fall off the train, Discussion of parallel universes, Inspired by Florence + the Machine, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-08 22:37:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10397730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/florencedrunk/pseuds/florencedrunk
Summary: In another universe, Steve's hand reaches Bucky's, and he never falls off the train. In another universe, they're both inside the Valkyrie when it crashes into the ocean. In another universe, Steve and Bucky wake up in a colourless room.395. paperthin





	

The room is completely white, and there's no way of telling where the pavement meets the walls — it could be endless, or minuscule.

It's cold, but not the kind of cold they used to feel back in Brooklyn, when they had to lie in bed together to share the heat; not the kind of cold they used to feel in their tent, when it seemed like all the warmth had been sucked out of the world. It comes from inside of them, as if their bodies were producing it.

Actually, it doesn't really feel like they have bodies at all: they are like those origamis Morita made that one time, hoping to impress Peggy: light and thin, too fragile to be real.

"We did say 'till the end of the line, right, Stevie?" Bucky says.

"You reckon this is Heaven?" he asks.

"What else could it be?"

"Hell?"

"Yeah, it could be Hell," Bucky says. "But why would you be here, then?"

 

* * *

 

A few years previously, as the night looms over Brooklyn:

"Say my name, Buck," Steve says as he thrusts inside of him. "I want to hear you say it."

"Stev— God!" Bucky moans. "God, Steve, you're so fucking beautiful."

 

* * *

 

Blue is the colour of the ocean as the Valkyrie crashes into it, the colour of the Tesseract as its light envelops their bodies. Blue is the colour of Steve's wet eyes as he whispers an apology to Peggy through the radio, and blue is all that Bucky sees as they go under the water.

 

* * *

 

The moment their lips meet, cascades of red, orange, and yellow start flowing from the walls of the Room, like blood coming out of a wound. Gushes of green, blue, and purple sprout from the ground, like fountains of liquid diamonds.

In the middle of this whirlwind of colours, stand Bucky and Steve, and as their bodies blend, so do the cascades and the gushes around them, creating brand new shades and tones.

They let the flow get to them, let it envelope them; they let it drown them, and come out of it shining.

 

* * *

 

In another universe, Steve's hand doesn't reach Bucky's, and he falls off the train.

In another universe, gray is the colour of the room they keep him in, the colour of his new arm (heavy and painful and not _his_ ), the colour of the chair that eats away all his memories.

 

* * *

 

Time doesn't seem to pass inside the Room — they still call it that, even though they know it isn't really a room. They aren't really sure about what it _is_ , though.

What they know is that they don't need to eat in there — which is good, because there isn't any trace of food — and that they're not aging. Their hair doesn't grow, and they can't even sleep — which makes sense, all things considered: they wonder if the Room only exists while they're awake.

 

* * *

 

Seventy years later, they're still in the cockpit, beneath a thick layer of ice, hand in hand like the day they crashed.

Seventy years later, black is the colour of the night above the Arctic, the colour of the uniforms the men who find them are wearing, the colour of the Room as it crumbles inside their minds.

 

* * *

 

At the very beginning, just after their first kiss:

Steve pulls away and moves a few steps backwards. He watches Bucky's face, looking for a reaction — any reaction. He knows that Bucky would never hurt him, but _this_ — this is something he should have never done.

"I'm sorry," he says. "I'm sorry, Buck, I don't—"

Suddenly, Bucky moves towards him, and Steve flinches. But then he feels Bucky's hand on his side, and the other stroking his cheek. He's so close that Steve can feel the warmth of his breath on his skin.

"Tell me you mean it, Stevie," he says— pleads. "I've been wanting this for so long. I was just— just too damn scared."

**Author's Note:**

> If you have questions or just want to say hi you can find me on [tumblr.](http://florencedrunk.tumblr.com)


End file.
